Last Days in Havana

"A conflicted valentine to the city itself, though that love is spiked with the filmmakers' own sense of sorrow for the past and concern for the future." – Guy Lodge, Variety

In director Fernando Pérez's latest film, Havana is a crumbling dowager-in-waiting whose lover has overstayed his absence beyond expectation. In a dilapidated apartment lives Diego (Jorge Martínez) whose AIDS affliction has left him bedridden but with joie de vivre intact. Miguel (Patricio Wood) is Diego's childhood friend and roommate, but not his lover, though he waits upon Diego hand and foot, tending to his every whim. Miguel wears a scowl like a badge of honor, tired of waiting for the US visa that's a long time coming. Out of the surrounding ruin, director Pérez crafts a loving tribute to Havana and two of its hard-up dreamers. With a magician's sleight-of-hand, he turns adversity into a rousing ode to survival. Everything may be falling apart within and without, but there's enough courage in Diego and Miguel to float this glorious, vibrant vessel of a movie in a vast and wondrous Sea of Hope. Fernando Pérez is Cuba's greatest living filmmaker and Last Days in Havana is his finest film to date.

On Friday, September 22 following the 7 pm show, Gables Cinema Director of Programming Nat Chediak will discuss the film with Alejandro Rios, host of La Mirada Indiscreta, the weekly television program about Cuban Film, now in its 10th year.